Customer Rating: 
Summary: Alabina is great
Comment: This is my husband's favorite CD. He owned it at one time and lost it. I thought I'd surprise him by ordering it for him. She really is a great performer and the music is wonderful. Even though I don't understand the words I truly enjoy listening to this CD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Must have been a Gypsy in a Past Life
Comment: I discovered Alabina quite by coincedence. I recently completed a belly dancing class at my local recreation center. The teacher brought in the CD. I was struck by the perfect blend of Flamenco & Middle Eastern music. I have always loved and owned Flamenco music, but when I heard Alabina, it was even more emotional and passionate. Ishtar's voice can move me to tears. To make a long story short, I'm hooked! I can't get enough! I listen in the car, at work and to dance, dance, dance. If you have an interest in Gypsy music or the dances of the Middle East, you'll love Alabina.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!!!
Comment: A wonderful album with spanish and Egyptian music.The best songs are:Alabina Harramt Ahebbak & lolai.The Alabina new spanish version is very good.
Congratulation to Alabina
Customer Rating:
Summary: My beggining of world music journey
Comment: This CD that I have listened to while working a very short-lived career in shoe sales has started the journey into Arabic/world music. All I can say it was a beautiful beggining and inspired countless other musical purchases not to mention the rest of Alabina's releases. Keep your ears open, as this is a magical album and if you let it, it will open your mind to the worldly musical and lyrical messages it conveys.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Alabina--a breath of fresh flamenco w. Middle Eastern spice!
Comment: Recipe for Alabina1) Take a group like Gipsy Kings, with Spanish flamenco guitars and wailing gypsy vocals sung in Spanish.
2) Stir in an equal amount of spicy Middle Eastern flavoring and instruments.
3) Add a hot Arabic-singing vocalist who has taken the name of the tempestuous Sumerian goddess of love, Ishtar, whose vocal stylings are in the same vein as Ofra Haza, except stronger.
4) Play music that is for the most part upbeat, danceable, and exotic.
Makes twelve servings.
The title track, named after the group, embodies what I listed in #4 and is my favorite track, along with the upbeat "Rona" and "Lolai." Note: this latter is not to be confused with "Lolole," which is on Album II. "Alabina" and "Baila Maria" are perfect examples of the fusion of both Spanish and Arabic musical stylings. "Lo Que Tu Dices" is another prime example.
A pattern I notice is for the male vocalist to sing one or two verses in Spanish, with Ishtar coming in later with her Arabic. Three of the songs are divided into their Spanish part and Arabic part. In "Lo Que Tu Dices (Harramt Ahebbak)," the male Spanish part of the song is "Lo Que Tu Dices," while Ishtar sings the "Harramt Ahebbak" part. The other two are "Yo Te Vi (Ah Ya Zein)" and "Lolai (Ya Habibi Ya Eyni)."
Ishtar's soaring, lovely and melodic vocals do indeed invoke the late and great Ofra Haza, but she has a much stronger voice than Ofra. They are shown to great effect in "Baila Maria." And she can hit a high note in "Rona." She does sing in Spanish in the Spanish version of "Alabina," but she's at her best singing in Arabic.
"Rona" and "Yo Te Quiero, Tu Me Quieres" is Gipsy Kings music without any Arabic styles, but they're still good for a spin on the dance floor.
There are some mid-paced tracks like "Linda," "Espero," and "Eshebo" to temper the album.
Alabina is a much-needed antidote to the tedium of standard pop, rock, and disco permeating in the ocean of American mainstream. Back in the mid-80's, that honor went to Miami Sound Machine with its Cuban stylings. In the late 90's, that honor has passed to Alabina.
